Federal judge rejects call to nix Chicago's DNC security plan

CHICAGO (CN) — An LGBTQ advocacy group’s federal lawsuit against Chicago met a significant hurdle on Friday, when a federal judge declined to block enforcement of the city’s security plan for the Democratic National Convention.

The group, Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws, filed suit in May after the city repeatedly denied its application to protest outside the convention. Bodies Outside also sought an injunction against the Mayor Brandon Johnson’s ordinance to establish a “security footprint” around the convention.

That plan calls for a broad ban on “any vehicle, cart or float” within the yet-to-be-finalized security boundaries, save for those used by government employees, and also bans firearms, fireworks and ammunition. It prohibits a slew of more mundane items, too: drones, laptops, selfie sticks, “large bags,” bicycles, folding chairs, balloons, coolers, metal-tipped umbrellas, tents, tobacco products, “pointed objects” and any other items the police superintendent deems a potential safety hazard.

Bodies Outside, represented by attorneys from the Illinois ACLU, argued these rules were unconstitutionally vague and would violate its members’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

“People who walk into that security zone do so at the risk that they’re carrying something the superintendent finds hazardous. I mean, ‘any pointed object?’ A dull pencil is a pointed object,” Rebecca Glenberg, the senior supervising attorney for the Illinois ACLU and one of Bodies Outside’s lawyers in the suit, told Courthouse News in May.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin disagreed on Friday.

“Plaintiffs’ argument that a protestor would be punished for carrying items such as pens, first aid kits, and protest buttons is well beyond the pale of any reasonable interpretation of the Ordinance. As Defendants point out, this particular phrasing is commonplace and well-understood by ordinary Americans,” Durkin wrote.

The Obama-appointed judge added that the ordinance’s small scale kept it from being overbroad. The “security footprint” will be enforced between Aug. 17 and Aug. 26, and only around convention spaces.

“For these reasons, the Ordinance establishes clearly defined ‘minimal guidelines to govern law enforcement’ as required by the Constitution,” Durkin wrote.

The Illinois ACLU nevertheless objected to the ruling. It said in a prepared email statement to Courthouse News that it remained concerned the security plan would result in chilled speech and unjust arrests. Glenberg filed a notice of appeal with the federal court a few hours after Durkin issued his ruling.

The Chicago-based Seventh Circuit is only scheduled to hear oral arguments on two days between Friday and September; it’s unclear if Bodies Outside will be able to present oral arguments to the appellate court before the convention.

Bodies Outside did secure a concession from Chicago in June, when the city agreed to let it to march on Michigan Avenue — a historic downtown street that will likely see heavy traffic from convention attendees.

The LGBTQ group is one of multiple left-leaning organizations that plan to protest the DNC regardless of permitting or security plans. These groups have expressed frustration with the Democratic Party over the course of Joe Biden’s term on both domestic and foreign policy issues.

Bodies Outside accuses Democrats of failing to protect LGBTQ rights and abortion access nationwide. Multiple pro-Palestine and anti-imperialist groups, meanwhile, have for months lambasted the Biden administration’s firm support for Israel, despite the international case that its siege of Gaza constitutes genocide.

Several of those groups have their own lawsuits similar to Bodies Outside’s currently pending in federal court.

For years before the events of Oct. 7, 2023, activists and human rights groups like Amnesty International have also accused Israel of imposing apartheid on Palestinians. On Friday, the International Court of Justice agreed that was the case, at least regarding Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.

The issue is especially pertinent in Chicago, home to both one of the United State’s largest Palestinian communities and socialist factions with influence in city government. Leaders of Chicago’s Palestinian community refused to meet with Biden campaign officials earlier this year; in April a socialist city councilor defended an Afghanistan war veteran who burned an American flag in front of city hall to protest the U.S.-Israel relationship.

The convention also places Mayor Johnson, a former labor and Black community organizer, in an awkward position. Earlier this year he assured protesters his administration would honor their free speech, saying the liberation of Black people from racist systems was intrinsically tied to “large-scale protest.” But he faces pressure from local, state and national Democratic officials to make sure the convention runs smoothly.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said in a press conference Monday that officers were being trained to respect protesters’ First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights, but added that the police response to non-compliant protesters is “never going to be pretty.”

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